NYT Makes Its Pick for Mayor

Andrew Yang is probably the biggest of more than a dozen names in the race to be mayor of New York City. "But nothing so far suggests that he has the experience to run New York City on Day 1," according to the New York Times' editorial board. On Monday, it endorsed Democrat Kathryn Garcia, the former commissioner of NYC's Department of Sanitation, whom Yang has praised. He's even hinted that he'd hire Garcia. "If Andrew Yang thinks I need to run his government, then maybe I should just run the government," Garcia tells the board. It notes "she would be the first woman to hold the office, but there are many other reasons to give her the job." Indeed, she "best understands how to get New York back on its feet and has the temperament and the experience to do so," according to the board, which calls this "perhaps the most consequential mayoral contest in a generation."

Garcia, a white woman who "was adopted and grew up in a multiracial family in Brooklyn," has a long record of public service. She restored the city's wastewater treatment systems after Superstorm Sandy, modernized the snowplow system, and overhauled the New York City Housing Authority after a lead paint scandal in 2019, per the Times. And she has big plans, including to reform the New York Police Department, provide free child care up to age 3 for families earning less than $70,000 per year, and use Rikers Island to generate renewable energy. The New York Post went another way, endorsing Brooklyn Borough President and former NYPD captain Eric Adams on Monday, saying the Democrat is best positioned to respond to "the rocketing rise in crime." The first Democratic primary debate is set for Thursday. The two Republican candidates will face off on May 26. (More New York Times stories.)